Mural Arts Program Leader Jane Golden to Receive Public Affairs Award from Cabrini College

Mural Arts Program Leader Jane Golden to Receive Public Affairs Award from Cabrini College

Jane Golden

RADNOR, Pa. (Feb. 18, 2010) — Jane Golden, executive director of the City of Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program, will receive the 2010 Ivy Young Willis Award at Cabrini College on March 9, 2010.

Given annually, the Ivy Young Willis Award recognizes women who have made outstanding contributions in the field of public affairs.

Since the Mural Arts Program began in 1984 as a component of the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network, Golden has been its driving force, overseeing growth from a small city agency into the nation's largest mural program, a catalyst for positive social change and a model for community development across the country and around the globe.

Under Golden's direction, in partnership with communities, grassroots organizations, city agencies, schools and philanthropies, the Mural Arts Program has created more than 3,000 landmark works of public art, earning Philadelphia international recognition as a city of murals.

Golden holds a master of fine arts from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, and degrees in fine arts and political science from Stanford University.

In addition, Golden has received honorary doctorate degrees from Swarthmore College, Philadelphia's University of the Arts, Widener University, and most recently Haverford College and Villanova University.

Ivy Young Willis was a pioneer in teaching and reading on television, and served on The League of Women Voters and the World Affairs Council.

Past recipients of the award include Cokie Roberts, ABC News Political Commentator and author; Lisa Nutter, president of Philadelphia Academies, Inc.; Kathleen McGinty, former secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection; Renee Amoore, president of the Amoore Group and healthcare and political activist; and others.